Life

Ironmanlife: Hunter Temple

You want a definition of courage? Of strength? Of devotion? Here you go – I can give it to you in two words: Hunter Temple. He’s a 76-year-old from Santa Fe, New Mexico, who might not have finished in Kona last week, but will go down in Ironman history as one of the most courageous Ironman athletes we’ve ever seen.

The Ford Ironman World Championship was supposed to be a chance for Temple and his daughter, Elizabeth Kollar, to enjoy the ultimate father-daughter bonding experience. Two-and-a-half years ago, as he lay on death’s door, Kollar put a wetsuit on her father’s IV pole with a note saying "Iron Hunter, we will race together in Kona one day." At that point Temple was recovering from surgery – doctors couldn’t remove the tumor they were after on his pancreas because it had attached itself to nerves and blood vessels. Temple almost died - he lost 40 pounds and was on a feeding tube for months.

Almost two years to the day from that surgery, Temple fulfilled his half of that order from his daughter by qualifying for Kona (the third time he’d made it to the big show) at Rohto Ironman 70.3 California. Determined to meet her end of the bargain, Kollar "trained like a crazy person" and qualified at Ford Ironman Lake Placid.

Sounds good so far, right? Last Saturday, after finishing the swim together, Kollar "shadowed" her father through the bike ride. At mile 90, Temple went down. He cut his hands, legs and arms. He also fractured his hip. Determined to finish with his daughter, Temple completed the last 22 miles of the ride.

That would be 22 miles of riding down the Queen K, in heat that our spotters were measuring at 104 degrees Fahrenheit (120 on the highway), dealing with the always-tough Kona winds, on a broken hip, covered in blood from all the other cuts and, as you can imagine, in excruciating pain.

When he got to T2, the doctors refused to let him try to get to the run course. (Go figure.) Instead Temple was put in an ambulance and carted off to the hospital.

"As he lay on the gurney going into the van that would transport him to the Kona Community Hospital he was apologizing to me and asking me to continue with the race without him," Kollar wrote in an e-mail this week. "His strength brought me to tears." (Liz, you’re not the only one.)

"I came to Hawaii because of my father – continuing on without him would have been an "empty" finish," she continued. "I told him as he was being placed in the van that I came to Hawaii to race with him and whether our finish was on Alii Drive or at the Community hospital, I wouldn’t leave him."

So today we wish Hunter Temple a speedy recovery. The word is that he’ll be able to swim and bike again in about six weeks. The doctors are saying he’ll never run again, but that he’ll be able to "walk fast."

My guess is that we’ll see Hunter Temple and Liz Kollar in Kona again someday. I also predict that he’ll either walk fast or even do some running as the two finish what they started last Saturday.

Even if they don’t, though, Hunter Temple proved on the Big Island last week what being an Ironman is all about.